


Erwin Week Day 4 - Military

by ClarissaNotFound



Series: Erwin Week 2017 [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 19:00:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12564060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClarissaNotFound/pseuds/ClarissaNotFound
Summary: Commander Shadis meets a young cadet named Erwin Smith.





	Erwin Week Day 4 - Military

“Who’s the tall, blonde boy?” asked Commander Shadis, his eyes narrowing until they had almost disappeared.  
  
“I forget,” the instructor shrugged. “They all sort of blend in to one after a few years.” He started to chuckle, then seemed to think better of it. “I remember them all by number now, it’s easier that way.”  
  
The Commander scanned his eyes over the gaggle of gathered trainees, awaiting their turn at the exercise, and wondered how many he’d actually see under his command. Likely not many. But rumour was three of this year’s crop had been quite vocal about their aims to join the Survey Corps and, from the description, he thought the blonde might be one of them.  
  
He watched as he pelted through the mud without hesitation, towards the starting mark, and lined up his first aim. The instructor blew the whistle and he was off, wires firing out into the targets on the trees and pulling him up the air where he propelled himself with just a touch of unease. His expression, though, was focused and when he flicked the position of his body on release so that his repositioned wires hit home perfectly.  
  
“He’s good,” Shadis murmured.  
  
“Determined, that one,” the instructor said casually. “Always first out and last in for training, even tries to get some of the others to do more training on their off days. Honestly, I think there’s something wrong with him.”  
  
The boy was closing in now on the circle of titan dummies. So far he had only missed two of the grappling targets.  
  
“What’s the scenario?” Shadis asked without taking his eyes off him.  
  
“Hit all the targets, take down the titans and retrieve the supplies,” came the answer.  
  
Blades at the ready, the boy now systematically sliced his way through the ankle-points of every dummy and then went straight for the supplies, grasping hold of the bag. He slipped over onto his knees as he landed, but he was well within the designated finishing area.  
  
“Tsk, what’s he playing at?” the instructor shook his head.  
  
“You, cadet!” Shadis called out. “Come here!” The blonde paused where he was brushing off the mud from his knees and turned his head towards them. He jogged over immediatly.  
  
“Commander Shadis, Sir!” the boy gawped, panting slightly, but he still managed to stand up straight and offer a salute. “It’s an honour to meet you! I…I’m looking forward to serving under you in the Survey Corp one day!” His hand suddenly reached up to his hair and apparently subconsciously he tried to smooth it neatly down, though to no avail.  
  
“What’s your name, cadet?” Shadis queried.  
  
“Erwin, Sir. Erwin Smith.”  
  
“Explains your actions, Erwin Smith.”  
  
“Sir?” Erwin’s eyes widened.  
  
“You failed to complete the exercise properly, yet I can see no reason why. You’re clearly skilled enough,” Shadis explained. The confusion lifted from the boy’s blue eyes.  
  
“Oh! Ah..,” he suddenly seemed tongue tied.  
  
“Smith!” the instructor barked. “The Commander asked you a question. Answer it.” Erwin bristled, and snapped out of his stammering.  
  
“Apologies. I simply understood the overall objective to be retrieval of the supplies. Therefore there was no need for me to kill all of the titans, only to immobilise them.”  
  
“The objective was for us to assess your skills, Smith,” the instructor tutted.  
  
“Yes, I…but I just did what I would have done if it were real. Isn’t that the point behind the assessments? So you know what sort of soldier I’ll be..?”  
  
Shadis noted Erwin’s face was red and that it was no longer excusable as exertion. He couldn’t help but give the slightest of nods, easily missed, but he would be surprised if this boy had.  
  
“Good work Erwin Smith,” he said. “Go get cleaned up.”  
  
“Thank you sir!” Erwin said, almost grinning at the compliment. He saluted once more and then trudged off back towards the barracks.  
  
“He missed those targets on purpose too, I’ll bet,” Shadis mused.  
  
“That one is too smart,” the instructor said with a slight smile. “It’ll get him into a lot of trouble no doubt, but probably get him out of it again.”  
  
“You should give him full marks for that task.”


End file.
